Page 36 of Don't Fae With Dragons

He takes a slow step towards me, until his face is only inches from mine, and I whimper. At the sound, his eyes suddenly widen in concern, but he masks it just as quickly as it showed. Then he lifts a hand to my chin, taking it between his first finger and thumb, and tilts it up to his.

“Understood?” he asks, a quiet power in his words.

Breathless, I simply nod. He exhales quietly, and I wonder if he was holding his breath just as much as I was. Without stepping away from me, he reaches one hand behind my back to open the door. As soon as it’s open, I practically fall back into the room, unable to pry my eyes away from his until the door is closed between us.

–––

Later that night, I’d stewed over my conversation with Cory – if you could call it that –and had gotten quite irritated. Who is he to boss me around, anyway? He’s not my jailer, as hesays, and he’s hardly my savior. Why let him tell me what to do, then?

I knew it would be foolish to venture out on my own, especially when I’m not back to full health, but I did crave some sort of small rebellion against him. As such, I decided that I would venture into the volcano on my own, without telling anyone. No guardians, no Port, no Max, certainly no Cory, no nobody.

The Sun fell and the Moon rose, and I dressed myself in a heavy cloak over my pajamas to help with the cold. There was no need to dress up, anyway –if all went according to plan, I’d just explore on my own without ever being detected.

Now I’m here, completely and utterly lost in some remote corridor of the volcano, half frozen to death.

I walked in what felt like genuine circles for at least an hour, but I kept ending up here, in front of this dark door with an obsidian knocker shaped like a small creature (perhaps a badger, though I’m not certain).

I haven’t seen any doors like it anywhere in the volcano, and I’ve exploredquitea bit of it tonight. Still, for all my exploration tonight, I evidently have no clue how to get around.

I’m desperate enough that I’d ring one of the guardian summoning bells, if I could find one, but there’s none in sight. However, as I’m sitting to close my eyes and meditate – and hopefully find a way back to my chambers –I hear a strange noise from behind the door.

There’s the sound of murmuring, then what sounds like raucous laughter. I press my ear to the door, though, and thesound goes completely quiet. I can hear snippets of a man’s voice, if I focus ...

“Honey and blackberry,” someone says.

There’s laughter, then the sound of someone shushing them.

“Is that what it is for you? For me it’s cinnamon and chocolate.”

“Really?”

“Both of you, quiet!” a third voice hisses.

Thudding footsteps approach the door, and come to a stop just behind it.

I suppose this is a good time to run, but I’m already lost. If these are friendly men, as they seem to be, probably some shadow guardians, perhaps they can point me back to my room. Instead of running, then, I brush myself off and stand, as casually as I can, and knock on the door.

“Gods!” Cory shouts from behind the stone slab.

My eyes go wide, and I truly,trulywish that I’d just run off down the hall. I came here to escape Cory, anyways, not to find him! Before I can move to spring away, though, the door opens, and there stands Cory, in all his glory. He’s wearing an unbuttoned black shirt, his eight-pack sculpted like a marble masterpiece just visible enough to make me drool at the corner of my mouth.

A fire crackles behind him, and the wavering light casts beautiful shadows on his rugged features. One of his hands is pressed up on the door frame, and it makes me feel even smallerthan I usually do around him. Smaller, and more ... aroused than ever. What in the Realm does this dragon man do to me.

When he’s standing open like this, I can really smell him, his leathery, cidery scent. As a fae, I don’t have the scenting abilities of the dragon shifters, but when he’s close to me like this – it’s not hard to pick up on him.

Then a voice cries out from behind him, “Mili, you came!”

I shift to the side and see Port beaming, sitting across from a grumpy-looking Max.

“I was just walking around,” I say. I try to sound casual, but the sight of Port’s eyes so joyful makes me smile.

His smile falters, though, at my words. As I shift my gaze to Cory’s sudden glare, I realize that was probablynotthe smartest thing to admit. It’s past sundown, after all, and no one was accompanying me.

“You were ... what?” he hisses.

I cross my hands over myself and glare back at him, jutting my chin out in defiance. “I was exploring the volcano,” I reply, “since I’mforbiddento leave it, now.”

“You were alone?” he whispers sternly. At the sight of the genuine anguish in his eyes, my resolve wavers, but I steel myself and nod. Cory starts to shake with barely-contained rage, and he points a finger in my face as he says, “I’m taking you back to your room.”

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